The Browns hoped Kamerion Wimbley could make the jump from effective rookie to special player.

“I think there’s been some improvement, and there’s still some that needs to be made,” Wimbley said. “I could be more consistent. Overall, I feel pretty good about my play this year.”

Wimbley had 11 sacks last year and has two in 2006, both last Sunday at Oakland.

“The first was just a one on one, me and the tackle (Barry Sims),” Wimbley said. “On the second, the quarterback ran a boot, and I read it fast.”

Wimbley said he has learned this about pass rushing in the NFL: “Never give up. Never let your engine stop running. There are times the quarterback will hold the ball, times he’ll get it off fast. When he hesitates, you want to be there.”

By the numbers

- Kellen Winslow Jr. ranks second among NFL tight ends with 271 receiving yards. Antonio Gates has 297. Winslow is questionable for today’s game with a shoulder injury, but Head Coach Romeo Crennel said, “He’ll do everything he can to be in the game.”

- Baltimore’s Matt Stover ranks third all-time in field goal accuracy, 83.9 percent; Cleveland’s Phil Dawson, who comes from the same Dallas high school, ranks fifth at 82.1.

- Randy Moss is making headlines, averaging 18.3 yards a catch. Braylon Edwards is flying under the radar but has a better per-catch average at 18.5, best in the NFL among wideouts with at least 15 grabs.

Extra points

- Crennel said Kyle Boller is a more dangerous runner than Steve McNair. “Not that McNair can’t run, but he’s working on an injury,” Crennel said. “I think that if he doesn’t have to run, he will not want to.” With McNair injured when the Browns played at Baltimore last December, Boller scrambled nine times, gaining just 12 yards. He went 23-of-32 for 223 passing yards in a 27-17 win. Anderson rallied the Browns from a 17-3 deficit to a 17-17 tie before Boller fired a 77-yard touchdown pass to Demetrius Williams.

- Wideout Joe Jurevicius thinks last Sunday’s long, late drive helped the offense’s confidence grow. “We drove down the field in the last minute. We’ve learned we can do that. Now we need to close the deal,” he said.

- Jurevicius’ savvy side came out on the final play setting up the 40-yard field goal that got blocked. He looked at the clock and looked upfield before stepping out of bounds with the clock at 0:03. “There might have been a couple yards more, but you use caution,” he said. “You can’t get those seconds back.” The Browns were out of timeouts.